Here's a guide to US antitrust proceedings against big tech companies

(Bloomberg) – The US government is intensifying its Big Tech antitrust analysis. Last week, the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission announced the publication of an antitrust investigation on Apple Inc., Amazon.com, Facebook and Google, as well as Google. Alphabet Inc. by surprise, companies have been preparing for this moment for a while, hiring lawyers and lobbyists and pleading publicly. The story may be on their side: business splits are an important and rare business for the US government. AT & T, in 1982, was the last major dissolution of a monopoly. A federal judge ordered the split of Microsoft in 2000 after the Department of Justice sued the software company in 1998, a decision that had been overturned on appeal. In recent years, there has been a wave of calls to at least curb, even break up, technological companies considered by some to have become too big and too powerful in many ways. US Senator Elizabeth Warren has presented the most detailed arguments for the split and regulation of the four companies, but the Massachusetts Democrat is not the only one to speak out aggressively about the sector. Any formal investigation will take a long time. The scrutiny of Microsoft by the government lasted for years. While all parties are very interested, here is a glimpse of the issues that the government may want to address in its arguments, and some of the ways companies might argue.

The case: If perhaps best known for the iPhone, Apple's vulnerability lies in the App Store, which supports tools and games for mobile devices and is increasingly the key of the growth of society. Apple and Google control over 95% of all spending on mobile apps by US consumers, which means that most developers have to work with them to reach millions of smartphone users. Spotify Technology SA is among those who have long complained about Apple's 30% discount on each app, claiming that this equates to an effective tax on competitors. Some small developers sued Apple this week, claiming that the App Store was removing competition. The European Union is already preparing to review the case and Warren, in his proposal, said that the App Store should be separated from the rest of Apple because its own applications are in competition with those of external developers. Last month, the Supreme Court ruled that a big antitrust case, concerning the prices of the App Store, could take place. The Defense: The CEO, Tim Cook, is adamant that Apple is "in no way a monopoly." It highlights its share of the smartphone market in the United States, which is only about 30% and even lower on PCs. "We do not have a dominant position in any market," he said on Tuesday during an interview with CBS. Apple has long sought to distinguish itself from the rest of advanced technology, strengthening the security of its hardware and software and emphasizing that it does not monetize user data. With regard to the App Store, Apple has recently added a new section to its website to show the benefits it offers developers, such as the ability to reach a large global audience and manage information payment and identity, thus eliminating the frictions of the registration process. Apple, along with Google, has also highlighted its ability to filter out fake apps and malware, making its store more secure.FACEBOOK

The case: Facebook has been the subject of much criticism from the government over the last year because of the amount of data collected on some 2 billion users and its control of the content published on the platform. Digital advertising, where Facebook and Google together control about 60% of US spending, is also an area in which regulators may seek to found their cause. Warren and David Cicilline, Democratic Chair of the House's antitrust committee, suggested that Facebook and Facebook's WhatsApp acquisitions may have to be canceled. Chris Hughes, one of the co-founders of the company, recently explained in detail why he thought Facebook was a monopoly headed by a managing director whose "influence is astounding". Defense: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that he welcomed the regulation, breaking with the company would not meet legislators' concerns about privacy and data. In fact, Facebook claims that its size allows it to do things that regulators want to see, such as better content monitoring, which would be much more difficult if Instagram or WhatsApp were separate companies. In addition, at a time when the government is worried about China's rise, Facebook says the United States needs its big tech companies. Breaking with Facebook would simply pave the way for Chinese technology companies, who do not share American values, to impose and dominate, Zuckerberg said. As for digital advertising, Facebook notes that it does not even lead the market. EMarketer sets its share at 22% of the US market in 2019. Facebook's advertising revenue was $ 55 billion last year, less than half of Google's. And other social media companies are posting a key demographic growth, like Snapchat, which had said earlier this year that it was now reaching 90% of 13 to 24 year olds in the United States.

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